Ornithologists have recorded the appearance of an extremely rare species of ducks. For the second winter in a row, long-nosed bobcats and louts have been observed along the coast of Kamchatka, and this year a hybrid of these two species was spotted, according to Ornithomedia, a popular international resource dedicated to ornithology.
According to ornithologists, this rare hybrid species of ducks was found in a flock among long-nosed croakers in Avacha Bay, as well as on the coast of the Signalny Peninsula. Rare birds differ from their relatives in other species by their unusual plumage, which is a mixture of the features of both parent species: black-and-white wings and gray sides, like those of the long-nosed croaker, but with a white neck and black-and-white fringing in front, like those of the lutka. This hybrid species is also distinguished by a large greenish-black mask and a black-and-white crest. Their orange-tinged beak is shorter and thicker than that of the long-tailed baby.
The bird has an unusual behavior – despite its modest size, the male courted the larger females of the long-tailed baby: he chased them, running along the surface of the water and scared off other males of this species.
The rare bird was captured and described by ornithologist Yuri Artyukhin in the Russian Ornithological Journal. It is noted that hybridization among diving ducks nesting in hollows from the genera Bucephala, Mergus, Lophodytes and Mergellus is very rare.
Few hybrid species are known to humans, formed by crossing between the long-tailed krokhal and lutk. There are very few photos of these birds on the Internet, most of which date back to 2014.